


ghosts don't exist, but maybe you'll find something mythical anyway

by candyrabits



Series: your hand in mine [3]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, shu's very tired in this one, so i made nazuna extra peppy to make up for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 22:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20217658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candyrabits/pseuds/candyrabits
Summary: on the list of things shu doesn't believe exist: ghosts, demons, god, mythical beingstake a wild guess which one he finds outdoesexist.





	ghosts don't exist, but maybe you'll find something mythical anyway

**Author's Note:**

> written for ESO round 3!! not very shippy, but yknow. its the potential

Shu stands at the entrance to his apartment. He feels nothing but pure rage pulsing through his veins, but with no adequate outlet for such a feeling he settles for grinding his teeth to dust. 

This is an apartment on the eleventh floor, there haven’t been any signs of tampering on the only entrance to his place, and there’s literally only a one hour window period between Kagehira leaving for work and him coming home from school where the apartment is empty. There is absolutely _ no _ way for events like these to keep occuring.

So _ why _ has he been coming back to his apartment looking like its been to hell and back?

All his books thrown off the shelves, cupboard doors hanging open and spilling their contents, his mannequins arranged in entirely different positions, Mademoiselle laying _ on the floor-- _

Thank the stars for Kagehira’s tendency to accidentally break things. If he’d had anything even remotely breakable, surely it would’ve been shattered to pieces by now.

Shu sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, before he slowly bends over to pick up a stray magazine. Sena’s on the cover this time, and his beautiful face mocks Shu from a picturesque beach somewhere in the Americas. _ What, can’t even handle a little ghost problem? This isn’t like you, Itsuki, I thought you’d be better than this. _

He catches himself. _ Ghost? _ That’s illogical, the statistical probability of a ghost haunting this particular apartment, safely tucked in a corner of a quiet city, is rather low, especially since these events are very recent in comparison to how long they’ve been renting this apartment, and also there’s _ no such thing as ghosts. _

This train of thought is definitely Kagehira’s, he thinks bitterly as he slides the magazine back into place on the shelf. All those regretful nights of letting Kagehira pick the (horror) movie and sleeping fitfully for days after are finally catching up to him, it seems. He was also the one to bring up the possibility of the apartment being haunted in the first place; Shu had damn near smacked him upside the head for spouting nonsense.

In hindsight, Kagehira had.... made a point, of sorts. Shu firmly doesn’t believe in ghosts, or any sort of afterlife that isn’t comfortable oblivion, for that fact, but he _ could _ possibly be swayed, with strong enough evidence.

For example, Mademoiselle getting to her feet, and taking slow steps towards Shu.

He blinks, frozen for a second, before he drops the dictionary he’s holding in surprise. Mademoiselle is a _ doll _, she shouldn’t be able to support herself like that. Even if this is a prank by Wataru or Natsume, they know their boundaries, and tampering with Mademoiselle is one of the few rules they can’t ever break. 

She marches on, and instinctively he matches her step for step, her tiny one forward and his comparatively larger one backward, until he bumps into the wall. Stumbling along, unhurried, she takes her time seemingly familiarizing herself with her soft limbs and how to get them to work.

His heart thumps hard as he stares at her approach. His breath comes increasingly fast, and he tries to keep a level head about this whole situation but that’s incredibly difficult given the lack of logic that’s taking place. _ Ghosts don’t exist ghosts don’t exist nothing is possessing Mademoiselle because that’s not possible this isn’t happening you’re just dreaming so wake up Itsuki before she gets you-- _

He squeezes his eyes shut and prays to all the entities he’d declared fictional. When he opens his eyes, she’s nowhere to be seen.

There’s a tap on his shoulder.

His throat is suddenly too dry. He swallows. There’s another few taps, more insistent this time.

_ This is impossible, there’s absolutely no possible way-- _

Slowly, minutely, he turns his head.

He meets blood red eyes instead of their usual, comforting green, and her beautiful face twisted into something grotesque.

His vision goes dark.

* * *

Multiple sharp sensations jabbing at his sides drags him back to consciousness. He groans, feeling his head throb against the cool wooden flooring.

Distantly, he hears some sort of… disembodied voice? It feels like it’s coming at him from all sides and Shu, perfectly aware of what had just transpired but feeling _ far _ too tired to care any more than he already has, can’t make out what it’s saying. There’s a worried tone to it, which completely _ isn’t _ what he would expect out of something that had attempted to kill him. 

He cracks open his eyes.

There’s a squeak, before something darts behind his potted geraniums. Shu squints at the pot, unsure of whether he’s still seeing stars from hitting his head or if there really is what he thinks he saw.

Groaning, he pushes himself up, all the while keeping his eyes on the pot. He leans forward.

“I know you’re there. Show yourself, if you would, that would make this much easier for the both of us.”

The leaves rustle, like it’s contemplating its next best move. Then, a glimmering _ something _ shoots out and barrels right into his face, yelling all the while. 

Shu, reflexes slow and still honestly trying to wrap his mind around the situation, lets it happen.

By the time it flutters out of his face, Shu’s absolutely _ covered _ in glitter. He grimaces at the mess coating his clothes, his floor, his everything, and opens his mouth to berate the thing.

He looks up, and _ oh. _

Well.

The tiny, fluttery thing is still trying to stammer through whatever he’s trying to say, but Shu’s not listening. He’s instead focused-- perhaps too much-- on his perfectly porcelain features, the charming little forest-inspired outfit he’s donning, and the gossamer wings keeping him afloat that are notably larger than the being himself. A creature that’s smaller than Mademoiselle.

The creature which, upon realizing that Shu hasn’t been paying attention, flits closer to whack him on the nose.

“Hey, listen to me! Give me back my things!” He thrusts a hand outwards. 

Shu has no idea what he means. “What nonsense, I’ve never taken anything from you. Who are you anyway, and _ why _, pray tell, would you do that to me in my own home.”

The little thing has the decency to sheepishly look away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Okay, um, about that, I didn’t mean to? I just kinda wanted to scare you a little and-- hey, yes you did! Maybe not from _ me _, per se, they belong to my friends, but it was definitely you that took them! Now give them back!” He zooms around again, glaring at Shu.

Shu sighs. “Can you please at least tell me what I supposedly took from you?”

“A keychain.”

“A keyc-- alright. And what was hanging on the keychain?”

The fairy ponders for a bit. “There’s a few rabbit plush toys attached to it. We dropped it somewhere in town, and my friends said _ you _ picked it up, so I traced you all the way back here! So please return them!”

Thinking back, Shu does remember something like that happening. 

But the little rabbits had looked so pitiful, with torn stitching and missing eyes. It was obviously well-loved, so Shu had taken it upon himself to fix them up and find their proper owner once he’s done. He didn’t expect the owner to come to _ him _, and, well. For the owner to not be human.

The fairy taps his feet in the air impatiently.

Shu sighs. “I remember that. I’m not done with fixing them up yet, so if you could come back another day, that would be for the best. This weekend, probably, seeing as I’m still busy with my assignments.”

“You... what? Nonono, don’t touch them, just give them back--” 

“I just want to--”

“--what are you even going to do with them? I’ll curse you if you even lay a _ finger-- _”

“--I’m going to _ patch them up _ , please _ listen _ when I speak--”

“--I’ll curse you if you touch them, don’t think I wo-- ack!”

He lands on the edge of the pot, hands clapped over his mouth, emitting a long whine. It seems he’d bitten his tongue during his tirade.

Taking advantage of the fairy’s temporary silence, Shu crosses his arms and offers, “I can show them to you if you want. Too bad for you, but I’ve already fixed two of them, and with my altercations it looks _ far _ better than when your friends dropped it outside Kagehira’s workplace.” 

His wings droop slightly and his mouth pulls into a pout. He kicks his feet. “That’s… fine, I guess. But don’t think for a second that you’re forgiven for touching them!”

Shu takes his time getting to his feet. Let the little thing wait. Beautiful as he is, Shu simply won’t cater to someone who makes demands of him.-- never mind that it’s Shu’s fault in the first place for picking up something that isn’t his.

Briskly he walks to his room, pulling a key out of his pocket. He uses it to unlock the drawer by the side of his bed, gingerly picking up the collection of rabbit toys. They’ve all been washed, the dirt lovingly scrubbed out with Shu’s floral scented detergent.

He holds it up by the keyring. “Here, this is what you’re looking for, is it not? I told you, I was repairing them. The stitches were utterly atrocious and some were missing their eyes, so I made them all new ones, but, again, I am still _not_ done with them.”

The fairy is silent for a while, wide eyes staring straight at the toy. 

Before Shu could blink, the keychain is missing from his fingers, and the fairy is once again zooming around the room, spreading glitter and laughter everywhere, this time with the toys in his arms.

He’s roughly the size of the rabbits. How precious. 

He comes to a stop before Shu, a million-dollar smile stretching his face. It feels like looking at pure sunlight.

“You fixed them so well, mister! They’re so cute and they smell so good!” He buries his face in one of the ears. “Sorry about what I said earlier, I won’t curse you! Are you gonna fix the rest too?”

He shoves the two remaining bunnies in Shu’s face. His eyes are glimmering, and something about his smile makes Shu think he won’t take no for an answer.

Sighing, he runs a hand through his own hair. He swears he feels more split ends just from this evening alone. “Yes, I will, I already _ told _ you I would, did I not?”

“Ahaha, I guess you did, and you’re a real nice guy for that! By the way,” the fairy says, lowering the rabbits into Shu’s open palms, “what’s your name? I’m Nito Nazuna, you can call me Nii-chan!”

“I will not do that, I’ll just refer to you as Nito.” 

“I figured you would, but it was worth a try!”

Shu rolls his eyes. “My name is Itsuki Shu, but please, just address me as Itsuki.”

“Alright, Itsuki!” Nito does a salute, grin bright as ever, and it’s… quite endearing. 

“Well, I’ve got things to do, so I’ll leave you to it! You said they’ll be ready by the weekend right? I’ll pop by then to see how it’s going,” he says, flitting over to Shu’s bedroom window. He flips the latch and pushes it open. A gust of wind blows in and scattered a few of Shu’s papers on his desk, which he tries (and fails) to save.

“Whoops, sorry about that!” The fairy shuts the window and swishes his finger. The lock clicks back in place.

Shu is struck dumb. No wonder he could get in so easily.

Nito does another, wider gesture with his hand, and all the glitter covering Shu and his room vanishes. With a cheery wave, the fairy zips off, leaving a tiny trail of shiny dust in his wake.

That was… certainly something. 

Shu wipes his hand over his face, and sits down on the edge of his bed. The toys are still clutched in his other hand. Their beady little eyes _ that he’d sewn onto them _ stare up at him, almost pleading for him to finish what he’d started. 

If Kagehira had picked up the toys instead, Shu had no doubt that the fairy would have actually cursed him for trying to fix it and failing spectacularly, so he supposes it’s a good thing that _ he _ was the one to find them. 

There’s also the fact that he _ does _want to see the little creature again. As rude as he was initially, once he became more agreeable, Shu couldn’t deny how.... adorable he was, with his angelic voice and his halo of blonde hair.

Biting back a smile, Shu gets up to rifle through his drawers, coming up with his sewing kit. 

His assignments can wait. He’ll fulfill his promise to Nito first, just to see that smile illuminate his room once more.


End file.
